


Stars Heist

by Nova_Turient



Series: Scrambled (aka: Doctor and Master keep meeting in the wrong order) [4]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Heist, Sad Ending, The Master when he was young and cute and only slightly criminal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:08:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28876206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nova_Turient/pseuds/Nova_Turient
Summary: “It’s a teenager.” Donna whispers.The Doctor doesn’t answer, his mouth opens into a soundless gasp, his eyes grow huge. The hand grabbing Donna’s arm, too week to keep its hold, falls down to his side. The Master. The very first face of the Master, still dressed in Academy attire, has just crash landed inside his TARDIS.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor & The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era), The Doctor | Theta Sigma/The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era)
Series: Scrambled (aka: Doctor and Master keep meeting in the wrong order) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2101014
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Stars Heist

* * *

As much as the Doctor insists the TARDIS is impenetrable, he did receive his fair share of unexpected guests. They never stayed for long, and it make the Doctor hearts kinda achy, he needs to admit it.

But with Donna, he always knew it was gonna be different.

And, yeah, maybe they didn’t travel together right after that first encounter, after all it wasn’t his most pleasant introduction ever, but when they reached their second week of cohabitation and travelling, the Doctor felt confident this one unexpected guest was there to stay.

He is not sure he’s as thrilled about it as he initially thought.

“Donna!” he calls into the empty corridor “Donna, where is my star map?!”

A moment of silence.

“Your what?” Donna voice shrills from somewhere on the lower decks.

“My star map!” the Doctor groans, turning to the console.

He glares at the empty spot where once rested his star map, rounds the console for what seems like (and probably is) the hundredth time, and at the end bends down looking underneath with a perplexed hum.

“This thing here?” Donna suddenly asks from behind him.

The Doctor spins on the spot, letting his face opens into a wide grin. Donna is on the threshold, book in one hand and a round golden object the size of an orange in the other. She hands it to him with a crooked smirk when he reaches her with two excited strides. He snatches the golden sphere from Donna’s hand and starts to lightly caress its surface

“Here you are.” he whispers to it.

Donna’s eyebrows rise up and she forces out a cough to bring his gaze back to her.

“You two want a room?”

The Doctor scowls at her, turns to the console and flippantly throws the star map, catching it. He’s sure Donna couldn’t have possibly noticed the hints of panic when he almost missed the catch. That’s not the reason why she’s giggling behind him right now.

“Why did you take it from the console?” he changes the subject.

Donna rolls her eyes “I was bringing it back to the library. Thought it was a paperweight.” 

T he Doctor halts and Donna crashes into his back  “ A-...a paper-” 

H e turns sharply  to her, glaring, spluttering  something that sounds like ‘ _daft humans’_ when he spins back and  r eturns the star map to its place.

Once on the console the sphere starts spinning on itself, falling open into four cloves. A mist of blue and purple lights fills the entire room, millions tiny stars get projected on the walls and midair, a pink nebula forms between them. The Doctor smile widens as he opens his arms, gesturing at the majestic spectacle. Galaxies and planets appears in the mist of light, immersing them into a beautiful miniaturized version of a quadrant of the universe. Donna offers to his bright grin only a tight smile.

“Uh…” she shrugs “Your night light?”

The Doctor deflates “Donna this is an incredible piece of machinery. The highest level of mechanical engineering ever created on Koracopylon. The most-”

“Alright! Alright, I’m sorry. Gee.” she raises her hands “Once you’ve seen the real thing all of this-” she gestures around her “-things looks kinda daft, you know?”

T he Doctor scoffs snatching the star map closed  and  abruptly  ending the spectacle of lights 

“And what do you even do with a star map, anyway? Your TARDIS has its...scanner thingy, right?” she asks. No answer “Doctor?”  the Doctor keep staring at his screens, ignoring her. Donna voice becomes shrill “Doctor?!”

“Yes Yes! I’m-” he gestures wildly, suddenly grabbing the screen and squishing his nose against it “Something’s wrong.”

Donna  takes a step back, clutching the book to her chest  “What? What is it?”

He scans the screens over and over again, until, with a faint voice, he says “Something is very very wrong.” he abruptly jumps from the console, grabbing Donna forearm and shielding her with his body “Donna, behind me!”

D onna complies, and is almost about to ask him something on the lines of  _‘What the hell is going on?!’_ , when the abrupt sound of time stretching and alarms blaring fills the room.

Suddenly, a small blurry figure of blue light  appears beside the console, its edges blooming brightly. The Doctor grasp s Donna’s arm  tighter and reaches for the screwdriver in his pocket .  Then, t he bloom  starts to subside,  and the figure  becomes clearer.  The alarm stops, and i n a matter of seconds,  the light shape and  becomes …

A boy  in bright red clothes.

“Dammit!” the boy exclaims, not even completely materialized yet. He shakes his head of black hair around, freezing in place when he notices the Doctor and Donna. He stutters, taking two quick steps back.

Donna  leans over the Doctor’s shoulder, frowning.

“It’s a teenager.” she whispers to him, almost disappointed he made all that fuss for nothing.

The Doctor  doesn’t answer, his mouth open s into a soundless gasp ,  his  eyes  grow  huge.  T he hand grabbing Donna, too week to keep its hold,  falls down to his side. The Master. The very first face of  the  Master, still dressed in Academy attire,  has just crash landed inside his TARDIS.

T he Doctor brains start working out all the different outcomes of this, offering him plans to defeat what is essentially his nemesis. He shuts them all down, because he doesn’t have the time to teach his brains their information are outdated. His hearts  quiver a little, because the Master, his Master, is dead. But this Master is here in his ship, looking at him with  bright blue eyes and  all the innocence of his youth. The only thing that’s keeping the Doctor from reaching out and hug him, is the fact that this Master would probably venusian-aikido his ass on the floor if he tried

“I must’ve…” the Master tries to explain, when no one else starts talking. He points at the silver bracelet on his wrist “I checked the calculations a hundred times-” he hisses at the device, inspecting the flashing lights on it.

The Doctor  shakes himself from his stupor. Still a bit stiff from the shock, he  manages an easy smile.

“Got lost I assume.”

The Master stammers “Oh...No. Well, I….” 

The Doctor  strolls towards him , glancing down at his wrist  “Nasty things vortex manipulators, especially if you bought them  at the black market.”

“How do you-” he takes an abrupt step back, suddenly realizing his surroundings “You are Time Lords.” 

H e  stares at the time rotor and then back at  them .  The Doctor just grins, starstruck.

“Lord.” Donna corrects, stepping beside the Doctor and pointing at him with her thumb “I ain’t part of his lot.”

“And this is your TARDIS…” the Master looks up, distracted “Copper beams?!” he comments with a grimace.

The Doctor raises an eyebrow “Grandfather clock…” he mumbles.

“What?”

“Nothing.” he reaches for his wrist “So, let me see, maybe I can get you back.” the Master leaps away from him.

“Tell me your names first.” he glares at them and crosses his arms “I still don’t know if I trust you.”

The Doctor  has to suppress a laugh. It  is his serious tone, the one he  uses when he  wants to be threatening or commanding. At this point in his life, the Doctor  can’t help but find it adorable.

Donna steps forward, crossing her arms too “Oi, kid. You are the one intruding here, so-”

The Doctor shifts in front of her, a bright smile on his face “I really shouldn’t tell you this but…” he shrugs, putting up his best voice “I am the Master.”

“The wot?!” Donna mumbles.

The Master eyes grows two sizes “Oh...oh, so…” 

“Yeah, I’m afraid so.”

He tilts his head at Donna “And she is…”

“She’s my com-...Assistant.”

“Assistant?!” Donna shrieks.

“For the moment.” the Doctor gives Donna a quick glare. Stepping closer to the Master he whispers “Never hire humans, they get moody after a while.”

The Master looks him up and down, clearly worried and a bit disappointed about his future. The Doctor just offers the biggest smile he can in return.

“Is this safe?” he gestures between them.

The Doctor crumples his face into a sneer  “ Yeah!  Don’t worry abo ut it, it will be fine!  The  Blinovitch Limitation Effect is just a bunch of poppycock anyway”  he pats the top of his head as to prove a point. The Master is not happy about it  “So, where a re we heading?”

“We?” the Master frowns.

The Doctor beams at him  “ Come on, don’t you want a little help  from your old man ? ”

  
  


\-----

  
  


The Interplanetary Museum of Astronomy doesn’t sound like a place the Master would visit at this age. He was always much more into field trips and experiencing history first hand. Much like the Doctor, he considered museums like big and pompous glass displays of boring things. Time Lords liked to preserve stuff, but seeing a dead butterfly through a glass, and watching it flying was not the same thing, he and the Master were the only Time Lords that ever got it. 

So, it’s no wonder that the Doctor finds the Master destination quite suspicious as it is,  h e also find it very weird to see him so invested in looking around with piercingly focused eyes. The Doctor feels a pang of disappointment, that one time he brought him to the British Museum to laugh at humans weird clothes, he looked like he was gonna murder him.  H ow dare he enjoy a museum now...and without  his company of all things.

“Explain.” Donna is beside him, looking between him and the Master, who’s now several steps ahead.

“Later.”

“That was not a request, Doctor. Explain. Now.”

The Doctor stops dead in his track and pierces the bridge of his nose, turning towards Donna with a somber face.

“He’s…the Master.” the gasp of shock he expects never arrives, Donna just nods as to spur him on “My best friend.” he mutters.

“You’re best friend with a teenager?” she snorts.

“No!” he hushes, and glances to see if the Master heard her, he didn’t “He is the past version of my best friend.”

Donna frowns “Why did you tell him your name was the Master, then?”

“Because I was sure he would’ve trusted only himself.” they resume walking, the Master now far enough that the Doctor feels like talking at a normal volume “And I can’t tell him who I am.”

“Why?”

“Well, because it’s embarrassing.” he raises an eyebrow “And I know he would’ve tried to get more information out of me. Who am I in the future, who is he, that kind of stuff.”

“And that’s bad, why?”

“Because he loves to tamper with time, that’s why.” he hisses, his little frown softening when he glances back at him, the angles of his mouth twitching upwards “Little rascals we were at this age…”

D onna  stretches her lips into a smile and leans a bit towards him, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

“Best friends?”

The Doctor  nods .

“Best…” Donna tilts her head “... _friends_?” she forces out with a dubious look.

“Of course.” the Doctor exclaims.

Donna just  hums in return.

He frowns “What?”

“Oh, Nothing.”

The Doctor spins on himself, blocking Donna’s path “Donna…” he insists.

“What is he doing?” she whispers, looking over his shoulder with wide eyes.

“Ah-ah, not falling for it!”

“No, seriously.” she grabs his shoulders and forces him to turn.

To the Doctor dismay, the Master is climbing over a rope barrier and into a restricted area, avoiding the guards with the class of an experienced bank robber. The Doctor quite literally leaps forward, dragging Donna along. They run to the rope, crouching under it, miraculously unnoticed. They quickly reach the Master, currently sneaking along the wall of a forbidden corridor.

“What are we doing?!” the Doctor breathes, glancing around.

“How is it that you don’t remember any of this?” 

There’s a hint of frustration in the Master’ s voice and the Doctor is slightly unnerved that he didn’t answer him, but as soon as he nears a door and fishes a sonic  device from his pocket, everything becomes clearer. A square golden plaque marks the entrance,  _Secret Archives_ written in bold formal letters.  The sonic device buzzes and the locked door falls open. So...a robbery, he thinks.

“So, a robbery…”

The Master huffs, opening the door and peering inside “ Way’s clear. Come on.”

The Doctor tries to reach for him but the Master is already scooting forward, sneaking inside the room with cautious steps. He turns to Donna who just shrugs helplessly, with a slight accusatory expression on her face. The Doctor rolls his eyes, motioning her to follow him inside, and closes the door behind.

T he corridor they enter is entirely made of steel, and covered with sliding doors engraved with serial numbers. There are many cameras on the ceiling but the Doctor is fairly sure none of them is working or they’d be caught already. The Master must’ve tampered with the security system while they were in the statues section and lost him for a moment. Typical.

The Master takes a sharp turn and chuckles to himself, laying his hands on a door and reading the serial number carefully. He turns  with a grin,  and Doctor’ s  hearts beat a tad bit faster at the joy on his face. He grabs the handle and slides the door open to reveal-

a  small empty room.

The Doctor sees his shoulder slump, winches when he takes a  desperate  breath.

“It’s impossible…” he murmurs, then strides forward, ignoring the Doctor attempt at stopping him in case of a trap. The Master spins on himself, desperately looking around and clutching his hair, eyes wide “It should be here!” 

The Doctor says nothing, and behind him he senses Donna growing frustrated by his lack of action. She pushes him aside, nearing the Master, who’s now quite literally having a fit of rage.

“What should?”

“The Celestial Astronomer. The last celestial astronomer left after they destroyed them all during the fourth Ganymede's war.” he explains, calmly at first, but then his words starts to slur into a hiss and merge with each other, and he leans his forehead to the opposite wall “This is the last place his presence was recorded…”

D onna glances at the Doctor, trying to get his help, but he just  averts his eyes , looking at the floor. Donna takes  a mental  note to punch him repeatedly later. She steps a little closer to the Master, and puts a hand on his  back .

“Maybe...maybe is somewhere else?”

He shoves her away, turning with tears in his eyes  “ No! Of course  it’s not , I checked!”  he screams, and then turns to the Doctor, jaw clenching  “ You knew this would happen! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

He strides past him, and the Doctor merely steps aside,  g lancing apologetically at Donna when she  glares at him and follows the Master  back where they came.

T he Doctor drags a hand on his face, looking up at the blinking red lights of the cameras switching back to green. Donna shouts and there’s the sound of guards screaming in alarm. The Doctor buries his hands in his pockets, following the sound of Donna hollering insults against the poor soul that decided to apprehend her.

“Alright.”

  
  


\-----

  
  


The guards believed their absolutely whimsical story of being a family of innocent tourist who got lost inside the exposition, and if at first he was fairly convinced it was thanks to his  superior  acting  skills , he soon remembered the Master had a predisposition for rearranging human thoughts however he liked.

Back in the TARDIS, the Master tells them he needed to be in the exact coordinates they were when he appeared, or the manipulator wouldn’t work. He doesn’t look at the Doctor when he say that, doesn’t laugh at his comments on how rubbish manipulators are, only goes to sit in a distant corner when he set the TARDIS in motion and stay there, scowling.

Donna abruptly punches his shoulder, giving him a stern glare, to which he only answers with a sharp ‘ _ouch’_ , and then reaches the Master in his sulking place.

“Was important for you, wasn’t it?” she asks, leaning on the same wall he’s sitting against.

The Master gives her a side glance and it looks like he’s not gonna answer, until he finally speaks with a low voice, like he doesn’t want his previous self to hear.

“It was a gift.” he says “I promised it to a very important person...and now I’m about to let him down…”

Donna slides down the wall, offering a comforting smile  “ I’m sure you won’t.”  he glances at her with those blue sad eyes  “Hey, if he gets angry at you, that’s his mistake. You’re a very good friend.”

The Master scoffs, rolling his eyes and looking away “Yeah, right. I can’t even give him a proper birthday gift…”

“You nearly stole from a museum for him, traveled time illegally! You risked a lot!” Donna exclaims “I wish I had friends that would commit crimes for me…” this grants her a chuckle, and when he finally decides to look at her again she smiles “If I was him I would be happy just to have you.” 

The Doctor looks at the scene from the console, smiling fondly when Donna, in her mysterious and beautifully human ways, manages to bring back a smile on the Master’s face. The Doctor’s mouth falls back into a thin line, though, when Donna leaves the Master and marches towards him. He instinctively shields his shoulder but Donna manages to hit his uncovered one, and he grunts in protest.

“Go talk to him!” she hisses, pointing at the teenage version of his best friend, currently curled up in his TARDIS, with one heart shattered and the other on the brim of doing the same.

T he Doctor steps carefully towards him, ignoring the icy side eye he receives, he got used to those with time.

“We’re almost there.” he mutters, rocking on the balls of his feet.

“Mh…”

“Now that you mention it, it’s kinda funny.” he drops down next to him with a cheerful smile.

He leans away, half startled  “ I didn’t mention any-”

“I forgot.” he exclaims with a chuckle. The Master looks at him like he’s about to grow a second head “You know how museums are...all the same after a while...you mix them up, forget where you’ve already been.”

T he Doctor reaches for his pocket, shuffling his hand a little, avoiding some books and the drawer of cutlery he keeps there for the emergencies... until he finds what he’s searching for. With a fluid movement, worthy of a magician, he takes out a round golden object the size of an orange. A star map, he likes to call it, because it’s easier than  Celestial Astronomer  and it sounds way more fun.

The Master’s mouth falls open. He stares at him and then down at his hand, eyebrows threatening to leave his forehead.

“That-”

The Doctor grin “Yup.”

“You stole it before me?!” his tone is rather accusatory, but he can’t help a bright smile from spreading on his lips.

“Not exactly.” the Doctor winks, pushing the star map in his hands, smiling fondly when he activates it and gazes around in wonder at the universe materializing around them.

He looks back at Donna, and this time she looks rather impressed too, giving back a proud smile to him.

  
  


\-----

  
  


The Master leaves an hour later, after the Doctor told him some interesting things he can say to show off with this mysterious friend of his. He still remembers the day the Master came to his room with that gift, he remember s the hours they spent watching the nebulae and the planets, making plans to where to go next, watching stars exploding into life and planets forming through the millennia. He always loved the Master...but maybe that day was the one he managed to admit it to himself too.

“Teenagers.” he comments, staring at the spot where the Master just disappeared.

“Too many hormones.” Donna replies “Everything looks world ending at that age, doesn’t it?”

The Doctor rounds the console, cheerfully “Happy?”

“Uh?” Donna asks.

“That was your first temporal loop Donna Noble. Now he’s gonna go back to Gallifrey, to gift me that-”

“My head hurts as it is, Doctor. It’s fine” the Donna interjects, waving at him and collecting the book she was reading from the console, where she left it before.

She goes for the library, but then turn “You should invite him  over sometimes,  this Master of yours . ”  the Doctor freezes “He’s good for you.”  and  s he disappears behind a corner.

When realization starts to sink in, the TARDIS comforting wheezing surrounds him, giving him an anchor to hold onto. He looks at the empty spot where his star map rested and sighs, leaving that last physical memory of the Master fade away.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really sorry for the ending it just came out of nowhere...thank you for reading, as always! Consider leaving a kudo or a comment if you liked my story, it would mean a lot to me!


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